Messages - Maclock

Dal is, arguably, an inferior place to study law, but it has a much better reputation in the canyons of Bay Street. Additionally, Halifax is a much better city than Fredericton. Law school is hard enough without having to be blue about the place in which you live.

Still, though, there are far more prestigious law schools out there, and believe you me, the perceived prestige of your law school counts for a lot when you try to find articling jobs (which jobs, incidentially, determine whether you will have access to the top jobs later on in your career). Think long and hard about it, and really give it your all to get into the very best law school that you can. For true flexibility, I think that you would do well to consider the joint LL.B.-J.D. programme offered by Osgoode Hall and N.Y.U. (Osgoode, like Dal, is frequently accused of coasting on a reputation for excellence built many years ago, a reputation that some might argue it no longer deserves, but mention its name to many in the legal community, and their eyes light up. It's hard to argue with that kind of reaction.)

Having the option to work anywhere in the States (your LL.B. will not get you anywhere in the States, no matter what some might try to convince you) is of crucial importance should things not work out for you in Canada and the United States is not a universally bad place in which to live and work (whatever the CBC might try to tell you).

What is your general feeling about the school? Where did you end up when it was all over? Were the professors nice? Is there a big public speaking component? Where did you do your placement? Etc etc. Thanks for taking the time to reply!!Christy

The school is o.k. There are some wonderful professors and there are some awful professors (much like anywhere else, I would imagine, except that it is likely more difficult to keep good talent in a smaller city like Fredericton than it is in, say, Vancouver or Victoria).

By youthful conceit, I ended up in Newfoundland. (Don't make the same mistake.) Go to the biggest and best law firm that will hire you in a real market, like Calgary or Toronto.

You will have to participate in moot court as a first year; that is the only mandatory "public speaking" thing that you will have to do. You may also be called upon in class from time-to-time to discuss readings that have been assigned for your various courses.

I wish to caution you about two things:

(1) Fredericton is small, cold, inconvenient, isolated, occasionally depressing and a bit boring, so make sure that you absolutely want to be there prior to accepting any offer of admission; and

(2) many Canadian firms look down their noses at small law schools like UNB; try your very best to get into U of T, McGill, UBC, U of A, etc.

which is disconcerting considering these are future lawyers--how about a third year devoted to more reading comprehension?

well, let's not get all righteous now. The OP's initial comments are, at best, ambiguous. Perhaps the replies should have been "is this JD program for people wanting to be international lawyers, or those who are lawyers from other countries?" But to take the position that people should have read the post better to know exactly what was meant is a tad dogmatic.

You'll all make great lawyers if you keep up this attention to grammar!

My original post was not meant to confuse people, much less become the subject of controversy. I have rephrased the same and wish to extend apologies all around. So, does anyone have any answers to offer with respect to admissions to this program for this autumn?

You might want to make it clearer in the name of the topic that you are referring to a program for international students who are already lawyers in their home countries....

The comments made so far have been about the lack of necessity for a third year for people who are not yet lawyers anywhere (which, of course, means they didn't read your post very well, but also means you may not get the results you are looking for in terms of comments).